poiresvsprièresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“poires” and “prières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,649
“poires” frequency rank
#7,356
“prières” frequency rank
31005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poires prières
Definition Pluriel de poire. Pluriel de prière.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set poires and prières apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
poires
7 ch
prières

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. poires (\pwaʁ\) and prières (\pʁi.jɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poires is recorded at frequency rank #23,649, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwaʁ\. prières is at rank #7,356, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.jɛʁ\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 31005, this pair ranks #306,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poires vs prières

Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "poires": o. Private to "prières": è.

"poires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "prières" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poiresopires · piores · poiers · poiress · poirres · poirse · ppoires

Frequency comparison

poires#23,649
prières#7,356

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poires" and "prières" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pwaʁ\ versus \pʁi.jɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poires" or "prières"?
"prières" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,356 in our French list, against #23,649 for "poires". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering poires vs prières

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “poires” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list